Doorway puppet stage



May 13, 1958 N. M. WHITE DOORWAY PUPPET STAGE Filed Sept. 25, 1956 FIG.

Nancy M. White United States Patent DOORWAY PUPPET STAGE Nancy M. White, Sausalito, Calif.

Application September 25, 1956, Serial No. 611,908

1 Claim. (CI. 46-13) This invention relates to puppet stages.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a puppet stage for hand actuated puppets which can be easily attached within any door opening.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a doorway puppet stage of the above type which will encourage children to play puppets without the stage presenting a problem.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a doorway puppet stage bearing the above objects in mind which is of simple construction, has a minimum number'of parts, is inexpensive to manufacture and efiicient and eflfective in use.

For other objects and for a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention shown mounted within a conventional door opening or jamb;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring now more in detail to the drawing, represents a conventional door jamb or doorway within which it isdesired to mount the puppet stage.

A rectangular stage proscenium of a light weight material 11 is provided and is adapted to fit within the doorway 10, being integrally formed at its upper edge with the hori zontal shelf 12 to which are suitably secured the longitudinally spaced suction cups 13. The proscenium is pro vided with the usual opening 14 behind which the puppets will be displayed, the proscenium 11 along the lower edge of the opening 14 being integrally formed with the stage or shelf portion 15 (Fig. 3).

A draw type curtain rod 16 is secured to the rear face of the proscenium 11 above the opening 14 by means of the fastening means 17 and slidably mounts the rollers 18 which support thereon the draw type curtain 19 by means of the pins 20, the curtain 19 being opened and closed by means of the draw strings 21 and 22, as will be obvious. As shown in Fig. 1, the curtain 19 is made up of the opposite halves which come together when the curtain is closed and which separate when the curtain is opened. The curtain will be formed of rayon or cotton. The draw strings 21 and 22 will be of contrasting colors, one color for opening the curtain and the other for closing the same.

Patented May 13, 1958 ice A conventional curtain rod 23 is mounted behind the lower portion of the proscenium 11 at opposite ends thereof by means of hooks or other suitable mounting means and supports thereon the lower curtain 24 which extends to the bottom of the doorway 10 and conceals the puppeteer.

Preferably the upper and lower halves of the proscenium 11 are hingeably connected as at 25, for greater compactness in storage when not in use.

It should now be apparent that there has been provided a doorway puppet stage which can be attached to any door opening and which will prove attractive and practical as well as appealing to children and parents.

The stage is light and manageable and can be made to hang lower in the doorway for smaller children by having a wider section at the top of the stage between the suction cups 13 and the opening 14. The width of the stage would correspond to the conventional door openings which is about 28 inches and would fold together to fit into a box with instructions for assembly and use. The draw curtain would be permanently mounted while the lower curtain could be removed and folded in the box.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it should be understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claim.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A doorway puppet stage comprising, in combination, a rectangular stage proscenium adapted to fit within a conventional doorway opening, said proscenium having an upper horizontal edge defining a shelf extending at right angles thereto, releasable means comprising a plurality of longitudinally spaced suction cups secured to said shelf adapted to engage with the under surface of a doorway opening for supporting said proscenium therein, drawstring curtain means mounted behind the central proscenium opening and a lower curtain mounted at the bottom of the proscenium to fill the remaining door opening and to conceal the operator, said drawstring curtain means comprising a channel shaped member mounted behind said proscenium above the opening therein and having a longitudinally extending opening at the rear side thereof, a plurality of rollers slidably positioned within said channel shaped member and having rearwardly extending pins, and a pair of curtain halves supported on said pins at their upper ends, draw strings for opening and closing said curtain halves each having different identifying means thereon, said lower curtain comprising a curtain rod extending across the rear face of said proscenium at the bottom thereof, and means for mounting the ends of said curtain rod on said proscenium.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 914,775 Aarons Mar. 9, 1909 948,113 Moore Feb. 1, 1910 1,583,775 Brandt May 11, 1926 1,845,949 Witteman Feb. 16, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS 524,842 Great Britain 1940 

